CHAPTER XXXIX

Of the marvellous sermon which St. Antony of Padua, a minor friar, preached in the Consistory

THE marvellous vessel of the Holy Ghost, Messer St. Antony of Padua, one of the chosen disciples and companions of St. Francis, whom St. Francis called his vicar, preached upon a time in the Consistory before the Pope and the cardinals; in the which Consistory were men of divers nations, to wit, Greeks, Latins, French, Germans, Slavonians and English, and of other diverse languages of the world. And, being inflamed by the Holy Ghost, he set forth the word of God so efficaciously, so devoutly, so subtly, so sweetly, so clearly and so learnedly, that all those who were in the Consistory, albeit they spoke different languages, understood all his words as clearly and distinctly as if he had spoken in the dialect of each of them; and they were all amazed; and it seemed that the ancient miracle of the Apostles had been renewed, when, at the Feast of Pentecost, they spake in every language by the virtue of the Holy Ghost; and they marvelled and said one to another: "Is not this man who preacheth a Spaniard? How, then, do we all hear in his speech the language of our own countries?" The Pope likewise considering, and marvelling within himself at the deep wisdom of his words, said: "Of a truth this man is the Ark of the Covenant and a repository of Holy Writ".